Auxiliary guard for safety razors



1941- G. B. OCONNOR AUXILIARY GUARD FOR SAFETY RAZORS Filed Nov. 25,1958 WI NESSES BY m, ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 11, 1941 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to safety razors and particularly to an improvedauxiliary safety razor guard, an object being to provide a constructionwhich will function with the usual guard of the razor to reducefriction, cutting, and scraping of the skin during the use of the razor.

Another object of the invention is to provide a readily removableauxiliary guard which will function to produce a better cutting actionand, at the same time, a less scraping action when the razor is in use.

An additional and more specific object of the invention is to provide anauxiliary guard which may be permanently or removably applied to theblade when it is positioned in the holder.

In the accompanying drawing- Fig. 1 is a plan view of a complete razorincluding an auxiliary guard embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view through Fig. 1 approximately on the line 2-2;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the blade shown in Fig. 1 with an auxiliaryguard embodying the invention applied thereto;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view through Fig. 3 approximately on the line4--4;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view partly folded showing the auxiliary guardillustrated in Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the guard shown in Fig.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 4 but showing a slightlymodified construction.

Referring to the accompanying drawing by numerals, I indicates theholder which is provided with any desired form of handle 2 and anydesired form of head 3 for the usual guard.

When the usual safety razor is used quite often a large exposure of theedge of the blade produces a scraping action and in some instances cutsthe face of the shaver. To reduce the friction, cutting, and scrapingaction to a minimum, an improved auxiliary guard 4 has been provided.This guard may be made from paper, Celluloid, Bakelite, a thin piece ofmetal of any desired kind, or any other suitable material withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention. As shown particularly inFig. 6, the auxiliary guard 4 is formed rectangular and provided with anelongated slot or opening 5 and a pair of short slots or notches 6and 1. Necks or straps 8 and 9 connect the respective sides l0 and H soas to hold the guard together as a single item.

When the guard 4 is to be used it is bent along the dotted lines 12 andthen applied to the blade, as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. The notches6 and 1 accommodate the usual shoulders I3 and M on the head 3, whilethe necks or straps 8 and 9 hold the auxiliary guard in position againstmoving away from the edge l5 of the blade Hi. In this way only a verysmall amount of the blade is exposed as illustrated particularly inFigs. 1, 3 and 4. As the razor is pressed against the face during theshaving action, it will naturally sink into the face slightly for wherethe razor is used the flesh immediately in front of the razor will beslightly elevated. By using the auxiliary guard the cutting edge I5 willalso be slightly raised so that the cutting action takes place at ornear the top of the fold or raised part of the flesh immediately infront of the blade. This eliminates a scraping action and results in aclean cutting action for the blade.

The auxiliary guard may be merely mounted in place and held by frictionof the various parts or it may be secured permanently in place bymucilage or other adhesive. Also, if desired, the guard could bearranged on only one surface of the blade I 6, though ordinarily it isbetter to have it on both surfaces. When the auxiliary guard is arrangedon one surface it is positioned next to the flesh when the razor is inuse so as to lift slightly the edge [5 in order to produce a cuttingaction as above mentioned rather than a scraping action. It will beevident that when the guard is arranged on one surface it must be heldin place by mucilage or other adhesive and will consist of only one ofthe sections Ill or II. When constructed in this way, of course thestraps 8 and 9 are eliminated.

The construction shown in Figs. 5 and 6, however, has proved to be verysatisfactory and when this form of the invention is used it is usuallyapplied to the blade immediately before the blade is inserted into thehead 3. After the blade with the auxiliary guard thereon has beenapplied so that the parts will appear as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, therazor is then used in the usual manner. After the shaving action hasbeen completed the blade may be washed in the usual way and, if desired,the auxiliary guard thrown away, which would usually be the case whenmade of paper. When made of other material the auxiliary guard could belaid aside for future use.

As shown in Fig. 7, a single guard member I! is provided. This guardmember is rectangular similar to the members [0 and H, and extend forthe full length of the blade near the edge IS. A layer of adhesive I8 isprovided to secure this guard member in place. When this form of theinvention is used it is arranged on top of the blade, as shown in Fig.2, so as to space the cutting edge slightly from the part of the fleshwhich is being depressed by the razor head.

I claim:

In a safety razor, part of which has a blade clamping guard piece, anauxiliary guard for the blade of the safety razor comprising a pair ofprimary flat strips of material with means of applying the same to saidblade longitudinally and fiatwise on the body of the blade andsubstantially adjoining the beveled cutting edges of the blade on bothsides of the blade and located in constant advanced position ahead ofsaid clamping guard piece and in the direction of the blade edge whenthe blade is in functioning position ready for use, said primary flatstrips having shorter auxiliary fiat strips extending from one edge ofeach longitudinal fiat strip at points on both sides of the bladesubstantially adjoining the beveled cutting edge, said auxiliary fiatstrips being positioned to straddle the cutting edge 10 fiatwise.

GEORGE B. OOONNOR.

